Hello all, unfortunately you won’t be getting a Christmas Playlist from me mostly because there are too many songs I would include. I like a wide range and it would just be never-ending. Also, if you don’t already have your own go-to Christmas playlist then you need to rethink your priorities. I did have a decent amount of ideas for what I wanted to write about regarding Christmas music, but didn’t have a lot of time to put stuff together. At the same time, I know I can’t leave my loyal readers’ stockings unstuffed. So I figured what better gift of music than to combine two of my favorite musical genres: hip-hop/rap and Christmas. Match made in heaven if you really think about it (Just kidding there are some terrible ones out there; e.g. Deck da Club by the Ying Yang Twins). Anyways, I got four songs for you that are actually good songs. Like if you listened to them outside of the holiday season, they’d still be good. So here’s some rappin’ holiday music for the gangsta in you:

 Christmas Rappin’ – Kurtis Blow

This really is the original hip-hop Christmas song, so it needed to be included. I hadn’t actually heard the whole song until just a few weeks ago because it’s fairly long. It’s not even all about Christmas, at some point it just turns into another Kurtis Blow song, full with a “somebody scream!”. But it’s pretty good and worth a listen. (Yes, Too Close samples this).

 Christmas in Hollis – Run-D.M.C.

Probably the most popular hip-hop Christmas song due to the fame of Run-D.M.C., it truly is a classic.

 Santa Baby – Rev Run and the Christmas All-Stars ft. Ma$e, Puffy, Snoop Dogg, Salt-n-Pepa, Onyx & Keith Murray

When the Rev wants to do a Christmas song, he does a friggin’ Christmas song! This time around, he had help from some of the biggest names in rap and modernized an Eartha Kitt classic (“slip a Benzo under the tree”). Each artist adds their own take on what the fat-red-suit-wearin’ man was bringing (or not bringing) to them this year. I first heard this song on the Christmas album A Very Special Christmas 3 which includes several of the most underrated holiday songs out there, check it out for sure.

 Christmas in Harlem – Kanye West ft. Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Vado, Cyhi Da Prynce, Pusha-T, Musiq Soulchild, Teyana Taylor & Big Sean

Definitely my favorite hip-hop Christmas song. Ye released this a couple years ago as part of his GOOD Fridays, bringing us holiday cheer while simultaneously squashing beef with Dipset. Each artist gives a pretty good verse, but Teyana Taylor might be the best part of the song, really giving it that true soulful sound. It’s so great you almost forget it’s a Christmas song.